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First Samuel chapter 10. Last time we saw where Samuel
or Saul rather went to look for some lost donkeys and in the
providence of God, that is how the king of Israel would be identified. We made it through chapter 10
to verse 16. After Saul had returned home,
he told his uncle what had happened. He did not mention the matter
of the kingdom to his uncle. He did not tell him what Samuel
had said. Basically, we have three stages
in Saul's accession to the throne. First, there was the private
anointing of Saul by Samuel. We see that in chapter 10 at
verse 1. This second aspect is found at
the end of chapter 10, where it's the public recognition by
Lot. Sort of a sort of an election,
but by a lot, we know the lot is cast into the lap, but it's
every decision is from the Lord. Certainly that is the case here.
And then there is the public affirmation before the Lord at
the end of chapter 11. in verses 14 and 15. So there's
not several different accounts of different things. It's all
the same thing, but it's from different angles. As I said,
a private anointing, public recognition that has more of a political
element at the end of chapter 10, and then the public affirmation
before the Lord at the end of chapter 11. That would be more
religious in nature because they are assembled specifically in
Gilgal and it mentions twice in verse 15 that they are before
the Lord. So this is the accession of Saul
to the throne of Israel. So I'll just begin reading in
chapter 10 at verse 17, we'll read to the end of chapter 11.
Then Samuel called the people together to the Lord at Mizpah.
and said to the children of Israel, thus says the Lord God of Israel,
I brought up Israel out of Egypt and delivered you from the hand
of the Egyptians and from the hand of all kingdoms and from
those who oppressed you. But you have today rejected your
God, who himself saved you from all your adversities and your
tribulations. And you have said to him, No,
set a king over us. Now therefore present yourselves
before the Lord by your tribes and by your clans. And when Samuel
had caused all the tribes of Israel to come near, the tribe
of Benjamin was chosen. When he had caused the tribe
of Benjamin to come near by their families, the family of Matri
was chosen. and Saul the son of Kish was
chosen. But when they sought him, he
could not be found. Therefore they inquired of the
Lord further, has the man come here yet? And the Lord answered,
there he is hidden among the equipment. So they ran and brought
him from there. And when he stood among the people,
he was taller than any of the people from his shoulders upward.
And Samuel said to all the people, Do you see him whom the Lord
has chosen, that there is no one like him among all the people?
So all the people shouted and said, Long live the king. Then
Samuel explained to the people the behavior of royalty and wrote
it in a book and laid it up before the Lord. And Samuel sent all
the people away, every man to his house. And Saul also went
home to Gibeah, and valiant men went with him, whose hearts God
had touched. But some rebels said, How can
this man save us? So they despised him and brought
him no presents, but he held his peace. Then Nahash the Ammonite
came up and encamped against Jabesh Gilead. And all the men
of Jabesh said to Nahash, make a covenant with us and we will
serve you. And Nahash the Ammonite answered
them, on this condition I will make a covenant with you that
I may put out all your right eyes and bring reproach on all
Israel. And the elders of Jabesh said
to him, hold off for seven days that we may send messengers to
all the territory of Israel. And then if there is no one to
save us, we will come out to you. So the messengers came to
Gibeah of Saul and told the news in the hearing of the people.
And all the people lifted up their voices and wept. Now there
was Saul coming behind the herd from the field. And Saul said,
what troubles the people that they weep? And they told him
the words of the men of Jabesh. Then the spirit of God came upon
Saul when he heard this news and his anger was greatly aroused.
So he took a yoke of oxen and cut them in pieces and sent them
throughout all the territory of Israel by the hands of messengers
saying, whoever does not go out with Saul and Samuel to battle,
so it shall be done to his oxen. And the fear of the Lord fell
on the people, and they came out with one consent. When he
numbered them in Bezek, the children of Israel were 300,000, and the
men of Judah 30,000. And they said to the messengers
who came, thus you shall say to the men of Jabesh-Gilead,
tomorrow by the time the sun is hot, you shall have help.
Then the messengers came and reported it to the men of Jabesh,
and they were glad. Therefore the men of Jabesh said,
tomorrow we will come out to you. You may do with us whatever
seems good to you. So it was on the next day that
Saul put the people in three companies, and they came into
the midst of the camp in the morning watch and killed Ammonites
until the heat of the day. And it happened that those who
survived were scattered, so that no two of them were left together.
Then the people said to Samuel, who is he who said, shall Saul
reign over us? Bring the men that we may put
them to death. But Saul said, not a man shall
be put to death this day, for today the Lord has accomplished
salvation in Israel. And Samuel said to the people,
come, let us go to Gilgal and renew the kingdom there. So all
the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before
the Lord in Gilgal. There they made sacrifices of
peace offerings before the Lord, and there Saul and all the men
of Israel rejoiced greatly. Amen. Well, as we consider this
particular section, we'll look at it in four considerations. First, the review of their situation
in Chapter 10, verses 17 to 19. Secondly, the identification
of the king, verses 20 to 27. Third, the victory over the Ammonites
in Chapter 11, verses 1 to 13. and then the renewal of the kingdom
in chapter 11 verses 14 and 15. So what we have here is the definitive
transition between the judgeship in Israel to the monarchy in
Israel. Certainly, we see a pattern.
Remember that when Saul, or Samuel rather, according to 1 Samuel
7, when it says that he judged Israel, just on the heels of
that, there was a great victory under Samuel's leadership. Certainly
it came from the Lord, but the same thing is true here. Saul
is recognized publicly as the man that would be king. And then
in chapter 11, this is his first war. He goes to battle against
the Ammonites, he cleans up, and certainly this gives him
esteem in the eyes of the men of Israel. Consolidates power,
they want to see him on the throne. and everybody is for him at this
particular juncture. So let's look first at the review
of their situation. Notice in verses 17 to 19. This is a happy occasion for
Israel. I mean, if we were to think through
it, it would be sort of a ceremony, sort of a time of reflection,
a time to consider, because Israel had cried out for a king. God
said that he would give them a king and so this is the public
or the formal election or declaration that the king was selected and
would be appointed. But notice what happens in this
particular situation. It says that Samuel called the
people together to the Lord at Mizpah and said to the children
of Israel, thus says the Lord God of Israel, I brought up Israel
out of Egypt and delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians
and from the hand of all kingdoms and from those who oppressed
you. So far, so good. This is a good reminder, a good
review. This is something Israel no doubt
got tired of hearing. But then he tells them in verse
19, but you have today rejected your God, who himself saved you
from all your adversities and your tribulations. And you have
said to him, no, set a king over us. So what Samuel is doing,
or God, through the prophet is indicating to them the grace
that he has manifested, the grace that he has displayed, and he
is showing them once again their sin. So it is a public spectacle,
a time for celebration in some respects, but it's also a time
for God to tell the people what manner of sin they have committed
and to call them to repentance. It was, in fact, a happy occasion. Israel is getting what it wanted. But the Lord continually reminds
Israel of their history in order to provoke them to repentance.
Because a truly happy occasion is a period in time when the
people of God humble themselves and repent before the Lord and
get things by the grace of God in order. So this is yet one
more attempt by God to show the people their sin and to cause
them to cry out for mercy and for grace. But one of the things
that I want us to see and we'll finish up with tonight is that
God nevertheless is gracious. I would never tell anyone, go
out and sin because God's going to bless you. But when we reflect
upon the Old Testament, we must observe that pattern. The children
of Israel very often sin and rebel against God. And yet, what
does God do? God delivers them. God gives
them grace. God blesses them. We see that
God is committed to His covenant people. God will prosper His
covenant people. And God, all of the time, does
so through very imperfect means. You have an imperfect people.
you have an imperfect king, you have an imperfect church in the
New Covenant, and nevertheless Christ has promised to build
it, and that the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
So do not take what I'm saying to suggest that let's go out
and sin because God's going to bless us anyway. But no, I'm
not saying that, but I am suggesting that even in the midst of the
imperfection that we see around us in the life of Christ Church,
we can't forget the reality that he is building it. He will see
it through to completion and he will bring it into the eschaton. So God, the Lord through Samuel
provokes them once again to consider the fact that they have rejected
him, that they have rebelled against him. The purpose being
is that they would repent before him. But of course, They don't. So notice what happens. Now,
therefore, present yourselves before the Lord by your tribes
and by your clans. And that brings us to consider
the identification of the king. We've already mentioned the stages
of a succession, a private anointing, a public recognition by lot,
and then the public affirmation before the Lord. Notice this
idea of by lot. Verse 20. And when Samuel had
caused all the tribes of Israel to come near, the tribe of Benjamin
was taken by lot, literally. So they were casting lots to
identify the son of Benjamin, or the son, rather, of Kish,
that would be the Benjamite that would rule over the nation of
Israel. This was the means by which God
was evidencing and demonstrating to the nation the man that he
had chosen the man who had already been privately anointed by Samuel. And so when he comes to the forefront,
or when they make this identification, notice that Saul is now functioning
like the donkeys in chapter 9. It's pretty intriguing, isn't
it? The whole account with Saul begins with lost donkeys. Saul has to go out and find donkeys. Now when Israel comes to identify
their king, where is he? He's lost. They can't find him,
right? It's kind of an interesting passage. Notice, when he had caused the
tribe of Benjamin, verse 21, to come near by their families,
The family of Mattrey was chosen, and Saul the son of Kish was
chosen, but when they sought him, he could not be found. Therefore,
they inquired of the Lord further, has the man come here yet? And
the Lord answered, there he is, hidden among the equipment. It's
intriguing, isn't it? I mean, that's just a bit bizarre. He's already found the donkeys. He's already been found by Samuel. He has been privately anointed
by Samuel. Now the entirety of the nation
is being brought into this particular decision by God. And when they've
identified that it's Saul, the son of Kish, Saul's nowhere to
be found. He's playing like one of those
donkeys. And if we ask the question, why? Why was he hidden among the equipment? I think John Gill says it the
best. You'll probably hear me say that
a lot in our times together in Bible study or in preaching,
but I think he nails it. He says, and among these baggages,
Saul hid himself, hoping that if he was not found, they would
proceed to another choice. So free from ambition was he,
and such was his modesty. Probably the case. He didn't
have ambition. He was a farmer. He was a Benjamite.
This wasn't his job. This isn't what he was trained
for. This wasn't something that was peculiarly desirable to him. Gil says, nor does this seem
to be affected and dissembled but real. In other words, he's
not putting on this humility. He's not putting on this freedom
from ambition. Gil says, it doesn't seem to
be affected and dissembled but real. Though afterwards, when
he was settled in the kingdom, he did not care to part with
it and sought to kill David, whom he looked upon as his rival.
I think when we see this passage, I think all in all, Saul starts
off very, very well. I mean, in chapter 11, the Spirit
comes upon him, he's got an anger that's aroused, and he goes and
he does what a good judge, or a good king rather, does. In
fact, there's a parallel between Saul and Samson. It is said that
the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon Saul. It's the same sort
of language we find with reference to Samson. What was Samson good
at? Samson was good at killing Philistines. What was Saul good at? Killing
Ammonites until the heat of the day. I'm going to argue that
the New King James doesn't translate verse 25 in chapter 10 the best,
but it certainly nails that passage when it says they were killing
Ammonites until the heat of the day. Anyway, Saul begins well,
but it doesn't take long for him to decline. But I think what
Gil goes on to say also indicates why Saul is hidden among the
equipment. He says, there were many things
which now concurred that made him uneasy and unwilling to assume
the government of the people, partly the envy and ill will
of some of them. The end of verse 27, there's
the sons of Belial that reject him. Probably already he had
heard rumblings. He had already heard these sorts
of things that some men were not going to accept him as the
king. Would you want to take an office
or a position or a job where you knew that people despised
you and didn't want you there? You know, I've often wondered
how some elected officials stay in power when they realize that
a majority of them don't want them in there. I've thought that
with pastors. 90% of the congregation want you
to go, it's probably time that you should leave. I can't imagine
wanting to be a part of that. So he says, partly the envy and
ill will of some of them, which he must expect, chiefly the sense
he had of his own unfitness for such an office, being of a mean
family and having had so mean an education and so little knowledge
of the maxims of government. He didn't know what to do. I
mean, imagine if somebody said, you're going to be king of Canada
tomorrow. I'd probably hide among the equipment, too. You'd probably
have to come fetch me out and look for me. He says, and besides,
must at once, as soon as on the throne, enter into a war with
the Ammonites. Remember when the people cried
out for the king, it was because they wanted one to deliver them
from their enemies. Saul knows this. If you knew
that you were going to be king of Canada tomorrow and you had
to wage war against the US, that might make you want to hide among
the equipment. He goes on to say, but what might
most of all distress him, he perceived by Samuel's speech
to the people that the affair of a king was displeasing to
the Lord. Imagine that. Samuel gets up
at every step of the way and says, the thing that you have
asked is terrible. It is a rejection of Yahweh.
Your choice of a human king indicates your rebellion against your God.
Would you want to say, I'll be that king? No, you would be the
absolute token of the rebellion of the people against the God
of heaven and earth. I think Gil really answers this
question very successfully. And then he says, though he condescended
to grant the people's request, and therefore what comfort and
happiness could he expect in such a situation? You would hide
among the equipment as well, and that is precisely what happens
with Saul. Now notice, they fetch him, they
bring him back, and when he stood among the people, he was taller
than any of the people. From his shoulders upward, Samuel
said to all the people, Do you see him, whom the Lord has chosen,
that there is no one like him among all the people? So all
the people shouted and said, long live the king. Now note
what Samuel does in verse 25. Samuel explained to the people
the behavior of royalty. This sounds a bit too much like
what we found in chapter eight. If you go back to chapter eight
for just a moment. Remember when the people ask
for a king, God says give them a king, but you need to warn
them what manner of king they are going to get. And so what
Samuel does is he describes the practice of kings, probably the
pagan kings around them. those same pagan kings that the
Israelite king would ape and would function as, one that would
exploit their families, one that would enslave them through taxation,
one that would eventually cause them to cry out in anguish because
of the severe hardships that they faced. And so notice in
chapter 8 in verse 9, Now therefore heed their voice, however you
shall solemnly forewarn them, and show them the behavior of
the king who will reign over them. And then in verse 11, This
will be the behavior of the king who will reign over you. Go back
to 1025. This is not that same sort of
a thing. What Samuel is doing is writing
down the rights and duties of kingship. The ESV and the NIV
translate it this way. The NASB has ordinances of the
kingdom. I think that's probably the best
It's not just what the king is supposed to do in his person,
it's how he's to function as a king over Israel. The old King
James, I think, is just as excellent, the manner of the kingdom. The idea is that Samuel takes
pen to paper to write down law. This is what's going to differentiate
the king of Israel from the kings of the nations around them. Davis
says it this way, he says, the rights and duties of the kingship
is Yahweh's law regulating how the king is to conduct himself. I should think it contained provisions
very much like those in Deuteronomy 17, 14 to 20. Israel's king is
not actually a king but a vice king himself under the law of
Yahweh, Israel's true king. Royal submission to that law
should eliminate tyranny and abuse. So verse 25 isn't this
is the way Saul is going to behave. Verse 25 is this is the way God
says Saul is to behave toward the kingdom and the kingdom then
has responsibility toward the king as well. These are the rights
and duties of kingship. The ordinances of the kingdom
the manner of the kingdom. In other words, God does not
permit the monarch in Israel to rule according to his own
whim. The king of Israel does not rule
according to the nations around them. The king of Israel is to
operate according to the law of God Most High. That's what's
in view in verse 25. So he writes the book, or he
writes it in the book, and laid it up before the Lord, and Samuel
sent all the people away, every man to his house. Saul also went
home to Gibeah, and valiant men went with him, whose hearts God
had touched. So there is support for Saul. There are men that want to see
him on the throne. There are men that want to support
him in this particular effort. But as I mentioned earlier, in
verse 27, but some rebels said, literally sons of Belial, worthless
men, wicked men, how can this man save us? So they despised
him and brought him no presents, but he held his peace. You can
kind of see their logic. I mean, I can't agree with their
rebel spirit when God the Lord has made it evident who the king's
going to be, but how can this man save us? He's a Benjamite.
He's from the most insignificant tribe. I mean, just a few weeks
ago he was chasing donkeys through the countryside. He certainly
doesn't seem to be the sort of man that can lead us into victory.
He certainly doesn't seem to be the sort of man that can govern
our our civil polity, he doesn't seem to be the sort of man that
has our best interests in his hands and is able to execute
faithfully the kingdom. So you see there's opposition
to the throne already before we even get to the next section.
That brings us to consider the victory over the Ammonites, verses
1 to 13. Notice first the threat. The
threat. Nahash the Ammonite came up and
encamped against Jabesh Gilead. and all the men of Jabesh said
to Nahash, make a covenant with us and we will serve you." Now
remember that Jabesh Gilead is a Transjordanian tribe, or it's
a city rather in the Transjordanian area. So that means it's on the
east side of the River Jordan. Remember Gad Reuben and East
Manassar, the half tribe of Manassar, are on the east side of the River
Jordan. The rest of the tribes are on
the west side of the River Jordan. Guess who happens to be on the
east side of the River Jordan as well? Those nasty Ammonites. You see over on the coast on
the west, that's where the Philistines are, and they are a threat to
those coastal tribes. But over on the east side of
the river Jordan, you've got Ammon. You've got Nahash. And
he was a particularly cruel and vicious king of the Ammonites. So Jabesh Gilead is in a very
vulnerable position, being so close in proximity to Ammon. Note the aggression of Nahash. He comes, he encamps against
them, and then he gives them the seven days. It's almost as
if he's playing games with them. You go ahead, you find a delivery,
you find someone to save you, or else I'm going to come and
deal with you. It's interesting because one of the scrolls that
were found in cave four, one of the Dead Sea Scrolls, gives
a bit more information in this particular context. It speaks
of Nahash The king of the Ammonites had been oppressing the Gadites
and the Reubenites. Remember, those are two east
side tribes, east side, east of the river Jordan. We're not
in Chicago here. Now Nahash, the king of the Ammonites,
had been oppressing the Gadites and the Reubenites grievously,
gouging out the right eye of each of them and allowing Israel
no deliverer. Kind of makes sense of what he
says with reference to their desire to make a covenant. It's
interesting. You know what? Make a covenant
literally is cut a covenant. And the reason why it's cut a
covenant is because most of the times when a covenant was made,
animals were cut into pieces as a means by which that covenant
was ratified. Remember when God comes to Abraham
and he makes the covenant in Genesis 15 and he cuts the animals
in pieces and he puts them on either side? And then God, visibly
represented by that torch, walks between those two things. Well,
there's significance in that ceremony. What it means is, is
that the parties who walk between those animals, if either one
of them reneges on the conditions of the covenant, then what happens
to those animals is being hoped to happen to them. In other words,
if me and Jonathan walk through there, what we are symbolically
saying is that if I break covenant, then what happened to these animals
in terms of them being split in two, may that happen to me. Now, of course, the beauty in
that situation in Genesis 15 is that it's God alone. Not God
and Abraham, it's God alone that passes between those parts. It's
beautiful, absolutely beautiful. It is a unilateral covenant made
by God for the good of his people. Anyways, so the people of Jabesh
Gilead say to Nahash, we want to cut a covenant with you. Nahash
was all too willing to. He was going to cut a covenant
with their right eyes. Now the reason why he wanted
their right eyes is because typically when you went into battle, you
held your shield with your left arm. And when you held your shield
with your left arm, you didn't have a left eye, right? You couldn't
see through your shield. So if he takes out your right
eye, you are successfully incapacitated from engaging in any military
battle. It was a means by which he subjugated
the people that he conquered. Anyways, Back to this quote from
that Qumran fragment. No men of the Israelites who
were across the Jordan remained whose right eye, Nahash, king
of the Ammonites, had not gouged out. But 7,000 men had escaped
from the Ammonites and entered into Jabesh Gilead. Now Davis
says that Josephus seems to be aware of this particular textual
tradition. Is that rain? Wow. It was so nice today. What happened? Okay, thank you. Anyway, so notice, they say,
make a covenant with us and we will serve you. Now what's going
on here? Samora explains, the phrase serve
you shows that Nahash requested a vassal treaty in which the
people of Jabesh would pay tributes and serve Nahash while receiving
Nahash's protection against the attacks from other foreign powers.
You see, this was quite common. A vassal treaty was when a nation
would go in, subjugate a people, make them pay basically protection
money and tribute and those sorts of things. So then that government
would have rule over them. They would essentially be slaves
to them. So J. Bash Gillian makes this proffer.
We want to make a covenant with you and we will serve you. So
Nahash offers the conditions or the means by which he will
enter into covenant with them. On this condition I will make
a covenant with you that I may put out all your right eyes and
bring reproach on all Israel. Now how's that? for terms. How is that for a covenant? Certainly
not one I would be willing to say. Let's do this right now. So he wants to cut a covenant
via their right eyes to render them militarily useless. But notice what else he says
that I may put out all your right eyes and bring reproach on all
Israel. He's a true pagan that despises
the God of Israel. He is a true hater of the covenant
people. He wants to bring reproach on
all Israel. He wants to mock them. He wants
to abuse them. He wants to subjugate them. He
wants to ridicule them. He wants to make them look bad.
Certainly his God, probably Chemosh, would be the victor over this
particular exchange. There's probably a lot more going
on than just having tribute and payment and those sorts of things.
It was the contest between their gods and what Nahash wants is
utter victory. So the proposal is offered by
Jabesh Gilead, hold off for seven days that we may send messengers
to all the territory of Israel and then if there is no one to
save us, we will come out to you. Deliver us, the same language
applied to Othniel and Ehud in the book of Judges. A lot of
similarities in chapter 11 with Judges. at any rate, so they
make this statement to Neha, she's like, yeah, go ahead. find
someone in all the territory of Israel, bring it on. I think
Nahash is a particularly nasty fellow that really wants to bring
reproach upon Israel. So then they dispatch messengers
in verses 4 to 10. First the messengers travel from
Jabesh Gilead to Gibeah. Now the text does not indicate
that they went elsewhere. The text does not indicate that
they went other places, but they certainly went to the best place
they could have, but in the Book of Judges there is a connection
between Jabesh Gilead and Gibeah as well. But thankfully they
go to the hometown of the newly crowned king, King Saul. So they tell what happened in
the hearing of the people and all the people lifted up their
voices and wept. Pretty accurate response. If
Nahash and the Ammonites are coming to gouge your eyes out
and take your stuff, probably weeping is the best recourse
at this particular time. Notice what Saul is doing. He's
not hiding among the equipment anymore. He's out in the field
plowing with his oxen. It's an interesting thing as
well. Why is he out in the field plowing with his oxen? Some say
maybe he's out there meditating. He's musing on the new things.
This is his hobby still. Maybe he just doesn't want to
be king yet. Maybe he just hasn't gotten the
bearings yet. At any rate, he's out in the
field. And Saul said, what troubles
the people that they weep? And they told him the words of
the men of Jabesh. Now notice in verse 6. Verse
6 answers the sons of Belial at chapter 10 verse 27. Remember
the sons of Belial said, how can this man save us? because
the Spirit of God Most High is coming upon him. The Spirit of
the Lord rushes upon Saul when he heard this news and his anger
was greatly aroused. If we had no other data concerning
Saul, if all we had in the Bible was chapter 11, we would cheer
for him the way we cheer for Samson, the way we cheer for
Gideon, the way we cheer for Jephthah, the way we cheer for
those men in the book of Judges. Chapter 11 is a sterling example
of a man who has been identified as a leader, who rises to the
task because of the power of the Spirit of God, and he goes
out and he does business for the God of heaven and earth.
This is the way that the Lord God will bring victory over Nahash
and the Ammonites. It is because of his spirit.
It is because of his power. So Saul is greatly aroused. He
cuts up the oxen in pieces. Again, connection to what we
find in Judges. Remember when the man cut up
the concubine and sent her pieces throughout the tribes of Israel. It was a means by which You would
summon the people together, but as well it was a means to call
the people for retaliation. And that is precisely what Saul's
action does in this particular instance. He sends this out and
he says, whoever does not go out with Saul and Samuel to battle,
so it shall be done to his oxen. Notice Saul is very prudent.
Saul is very wise. Saul understands the way things
work. He has been privately anointed,
the lot has fallen upon him, but he has as of yet engaged
in battle and thus secured the allegiance of everyone in Israel.
He mentions Samuel. There is political and very good
wisdom in this. Samuel is right there alongside
us all. Not while they're killing Ammonites
in the heat of the day, probably. Samuel's an older man. I doubt
he would be able to dispatch Ammonites. Well, actually, later
on he's going to hack Agag to pieces. before the Lord and Gilgal. So he still had some oomph in
him, even in his old age. But this is a very wise and prudent
thing. Whoever does not go out with
Saul and Samuel to battle, so it shall be done to his oxen. Notice the particular plan. I'm
sorry. Yeah, the plan is in verses seven
to nine. Fear the Lord came or fell on
the people and they came out with one consent or as one man. So he numbers the people at Bizak.
You've got 300,000 in Israel and 30,000 from Judah. Interesting.
We already see division there between northern and southern.
And basically the idea is shock and awe. We're going to hit them.
We're going to hit them hard, we're going to hit them early,
and we're going to do the job. So essentially, they make their
battle plan. The messengers then leave Gibeah
and go back to Jabesh, Gilead. And the messengers then report
to the men of Jabesh, Gilead, verse 9. By the time the sun
is hot, you shall have hell. Then the messengers came and
reported to the men of Jabesh, and they were glad. Now, verse
10 is probably the men of Jabesh or the elders of Jabesh before
Nahash. They know what the plan is now,
but notice how ambiguous verse 10 is. Tomorrow we will come
out to you and you may do with us whatever seems good to you.
That could be interpreted a lot of ways by Nahash. That could
be, okay, we're coming out and we're going to squint or close
our left eye and let you gouge out the right eye. That doesn't
indicate anything whatsoever in terms of the agreement. Now the men of Jabesh Gilead
know what's going on. Bezek has happened, Saul has
instructed, he's informed them, and so they stand before Nahash
now and they say, tomorrow we will come out to you and you
may do with us whatever seems good to you. Now notice the particular
battle itself. So it was on the next day that
Saul put the people in three companies, just like Gideon did
in the book of Judges. And they came into the midst
of the camp in the morning watch. This is probably between two
in the morning and six in the morning. That's the morning watch.
What's people typically doing between two and six? Typically
sleeping, especially if you're Nahash and the Ammonites and
you've got a collection of right eyes from the eastern tribes
in Israel. you're probably not very worried that they're actually
going to find a deliverer. Nahash almost says it, or allows
it. He doesn't say anything, but
the fact that he lets them go for seven days seems to indicate
that Nahash is pretty confident that they're not going to find
a deliverer. Nahash is pretty confident that they've got this
in the bag. So yeah, they probably have a
few posts or a few guards out between zero, two hundred, and
0600 but what we find is they came into the midst of the camp
in the morning watch and killed Ammonites until the heat of the
day. That's devastation. Saul gets
mad props for this strategy. Saul did very well, commendably
so. God blessed with the presence
of his spirit, and instead of being subjugated by Nahash and
the Ammonites, instead of losing their right eyes, instead of
losing Jabesh Gilead, instead of losing any Israelites in terms
of Nahash capturing They kill Ammonites until the heat of the
day. It happened that those who survived were scattered so that
no two of them were left together. Then the people said to Samuel,
this is the consolidation of power, you see. Now we know that
Saul is God's man. Not only has there been this
private anointing, not only has there been this public lot, but
Saul has proven himself militarily. This was crucial. This was absolutely
necessary. And so what you have is the pro-Saul
group now saying, go find the anti-Saul group. You remember
those sons of Belial from chapter 10 and verse 27? Bring them to
us so that we may execute them. Because when you have a king
ascend upon the throne, you don't want loose ends out there. You
see this when Solomon assumes the throne. What happens when
Solomon assumes the throne? Well, he consolidates power,
and one of the means by which he does that is that his servants
go out and destroy the opposition. Not necessarily the foreign opposition,
but the internal opposition. You see, you cannot have a secure
kingdom while you have sons of Belial questioning your authority. and your ability to reign. So
that is precisely what they say in verse 12. Who is he who said,
shall Saul reign over us? Bring the men that we may put
them to death. This is typical. I know it seems
a bit shocking to us. We would never think that this
is the way it is done. Actually, we might think it is
the way it's done in current political regimes, but it's not
supposed to be done that way today. But when we read this,
this is pretty par for the course. As I said, when you see it in
the rest of the kings in Israel or other kings, these sorts of
things happen. Now notice what Saul says in
verse 13. Again, he's a sterling figure
in chapter 11. Saul said, not a man shall be
put to death this day. He exercises lenity, or forgiveness,
or leniency toward these particular rebels, probably with the thought
that now they will be on our side. Now that they have seen
this decisive victory over Ammonites, certainly we have won them. They
are no longer the sons of Belial. They will be loyal subjects to
the throne. But notice as well what Saul
does. Saul does not parade his military
prowess. Saul does not parade his own
ability. Saul does not boast. Saul is
not arrogant. As I said, Saul in chapter 11
is a sterling specimen of a leader in Israel. He says, for today,
the Lord has accomplished salvation in Israel. That is commendatory
on the part of this man. He gives credit and praise and
honor and glory to God Most High for this victory. And then finally,
note the renewal of the kingdom in verses 14 and 15. Then Samuel
said to the people, come, let us go to Gilgal and renew the
kingdom there. Renew the kingdom there. Renewal
speaks of or presupposes deterioration. This isn't let's make something
It's renew something that was already present. Probably the
idea here is not their allegiance before Saul, but their allegiance
before God. Their allegiance before Yahweh.
Let us go to Gilgal and renew the kingdom there. Let us get
our act together before the Lord God most high." And then in verse
15, all the people went to Gilgal and there they made Saul king
before the Lord in Gilgal. There they made sacrifices of
peace offerings before the Lord, and there Saul and all the men
of Israel rejoiced greatly. So again, before the Lord. I
think at the end of chapter 10, taken by Lot refers to the political
angle Here, we've got more of the religious
element involved. Certainly, this was a religious
celebration. They make him king before Yahweh.
They make sacrifices. They would have eaten of these
sacrifices, for they were peace offerings. And then, as well,
they rejoiced greatly. So that is Saul's official rise
to power. He now sits upon the throne.
The judgeship is over. Samuel will address the persons
in chapter 12. A couple of lessons, and then
we conclude. First, the redemptive historical
movement. This is huge in Israel's history. I've mentioned this before, and
I'll mention it again. Monarchy occupies a large amount
of Israel's history. I really believe, as a pastor,
as a Christian man, that every person who names the name of
Christ should have some basic understanding of what's going
on in Israel's history. I don't know how you can make
heads or tails out of the prophets, I don't know how you can make
heads or tails out of these historical books. I don't know how you can
make heads or tails out of much of the Old Testament if you don't
have a few key dates in your mind. And so I really encourage
you to make sure that you follow along and you pay attention and
you see sort of the major workings. Ask Roger, he's got a timeline.
Or he's developing a timeline. I'm sorry to put you on the spot
here. But it is an accurate depiction of the times and events and what
kings and what prophets. That's crucial. I mean, we are
Christians. Where did our Christianity come
from? It came from, originally, the promise of God in Genesis
3.15. That promise developed over the ages, comes to fruition
in the inauguration of the new covenant. by our Lord Jesus Christ. This is our history. We need
to know this history. We need to understand it. We
need to move, or we need to see the movement from judgeship to
monarchy and the significance of that. It's an interesting
turn of phrase. I think it's when Solomon sits
on the throne. At the end of 1 Chronicles. 1 Chronicles chapter 29. Turn there for just a moment. Just in case you're not convinced
that you should really probably pay attention to the kings in
Israel. Notice what happens when Solomon is enthroned. First Chronicles 29, 21. And
they made sacrifices to the Lord and offered burnt offerings to
the Lord on the next day. A thousand bowls, a thousand
rams, a thousand lambs with their drink offerings and sacrifices
in abundance for all Israel. So they ate and drank before
the Lord with great gladness on that day. And they made Solomon
the son of David king the second time and anointed him before
the Lord to be the leader and Zadok to be priest. Then Solomon
sat on the throne of the Lord. You see that? Solomon sat on
the throne of Yahweh as king instead of David, his father,
and prospered and all Israel obeyed him. What the kingdom
in Israel typifies is God's kingdom. It's not, you know, when we speak
of the kingdom of God, it's not just isolated to Israel. But
certainly Israel was typical of what is the kingdom of God. Such that when Solomon sits down,
he's sitting on the throne of Yahweh. I mean this is a very
peculiar and a very special people that is occupying this property
under God's leading. Secondly, we see the grace behind
Israel's deliverance. The monarchy started as a result
of rebellion. The monarchy started as a result
of a rejection of the God of heaven and earth. And nevertheless,
God blesses the exploits of Saul, and chapter 11 ends with Israel
rejoicing before God. And as I said earlier, we need
to appreciate that God works through imperfect means. Sometimes
you might look around at the church and say, how in the world
is it ever going to progress? How in the world is it ever going
to advance? How in the world is it ever going
to make it to heaven? Because Jesus is her builder,
and Jesus has promised, and Jesus works through even imperfect
means. Again, do not take this as license
to go out and sin, because after all, God's going to bless us.
No, we pursue holiness, we pursue righteousness, we seek to obey
the Father, but we must realize that we will fail, we will sin,
we will do horrible things from time to time, But nevertheless,
God has his purpose and he will see it through, even as he did
through the rebellion of Israel in the midst of the days of Saul.
Thirdly, the power behind Israel's deliverance. It's the spirit.
I've already mentioned that verse 6 is the answer to what the sons
of Belial ask in chapter 10 verse 27. Listen to what Davis says
on this verse. He says, Israel cannot afford
to miss the point. Salvation came not because Israel
had a king, but because the king had God's spirit. You see, this
is crucial. We want a king so that he can
fight and win battles for us. They weren't victorious because
of Saul. They were victorious, and thankfully
Saul highlights that reality because of God. So he says salvation
came not because Israel had a king, but because the king had God's
spirit. It is not the institution of
kingship, but the power of the spirit that brings deliverance. Nor can the church afford to
miss this point. It is simply Christ's Old Testament
way of saying, without me, you can do nothing. That's a great
parallel statement that he makes reference to. And then finally,
we should appreciate chapter 11, verse 1. Then Nahash the Ammonite came
up and encamped against Jabesh Gilead. Nahash and the Ammonites
are but one historical example of the continual opposition of
God-haters toward the people of God. Jesus says if, you know,
They hated me, they're going to hate you. Paul says in this
world, or Paul says all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus
will suffer persecution. Let us learn from the Old Testament
that God ultimately protects his people. God keeps them. God grants them victory, God
brings them to that place where he has purposed, and God will
most certainly secure us even in the midst of attack through
Nahash and his Ammonite companions. The Lord God most high knows
how to deal with his enemies. And just as he raised up a Saul
to go and kill Ammonites until the heat of the day, certainly
he has men. He has ultimately his spirit
by which he is able to deal with the opposition. Well, let us
pray and ask God to help us to take these things to heart. Father,
we thank you that your grace is displayed even in the midst
of imperfection. We see that Israel here cried
out in rebellion and rejection. And nevertheless, you delivered
them from their enemies. We thank you for this. We thank
you for the fact that you give us the Holy Spirit. You give
us the ability to resist the things that oppose us in this
world. Help us to see that this is our
dependence. This is our might, our power. It's not our own strength. And
we thank you, God, for your kindness and your mercy and for your graciousness
to your church. And in light of this passage,
we think of Matthew 16 and the promise of Christ that he will
build his church. And we pray that it would advance,
that it would progress, and that it would grow and that more and
more people would come to know Christ as Lord and Savior. And
we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.
